


Double-Edged Sword (Can Hurt but not Heal)

by Lazy8



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [17]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bedside Vigils, Bloodbending (Avatar), Episode: s03e08 The Puppetmaster, Forced to Hurt a Friend, Gen, Impaled Chest, Platonic Bed Sharing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:55:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27743350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lazy8/pseuds/Lazy8
Summary: Katara stops Hama just a second too late, and Aang is the one who pays the price.
Relationships: Aang & Sokka (Avatar), Katara & Sokka (Avatar)
Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1846456
Comments: 4
Kudos: 41
Collections: Bad Things Happen Bingo





	Double-Edged Sword (Can Hurt but not Heal)

**Author's Note:**

> **Prompt:** Impaled Chest  
>  **Hurt Character:** Aang  
>  **Comforting Character(s):** Sokka

"No, you've outnumbered yourselves!"

When Hama first said that, Sokka didn't know what she meant. How he _wished_ he could return to his former ignorance.

Now, he and Aang were rushing at each other, his body moving against his will (he couldn't stop he couldn't stop _why couldn't he stop it_ ) and everything that Old Man Ding had said to them about what had happened to him under the full moon suddenly made horrible sense. Katara was doing her best to protect them, and to counteract Hama's influence, but… not even Katara could defend against _that_.

Suddenly, the ice that had bound them to the trees was peeled away, and it was clear that Hama was through messing around. Now, he and Aang were flying at each other and _oh dear Spirits his sword was extended…_

Closing his eyes did nothing to block out the squelching sound, or the horrible feeling of blade severing bone.

A wet gurgle in front of him made Sokka force his eyes back open. Oh dear Spirits, Aang, _no—_

There was no denying it, though. Aang's face was now less than a handspan from Sokka's own, a thin trickle of blood running from the corner of his mouth and his features twisted in agony. The wet gurgling noise was coming from his mouth, and even as Sokka watched he attempted to draw a breath, only for the awful sound to repeat and a fresh spurt of blood to bubble up from between his lips.

Almost against his will, Sokka felt his gaze drift downward. There, sticking out of the side of Aang's chest, was the hilt of his own sword.

Horrified, he let go of the hilt as if it had burned him. Without Sokka's strength holding him up, Aang staggered back, hands pressed to the stream of blood that was running from around the blade.

It was only then that he registered that he _had_ been able to let go of the sword. Somehow, in those few horrifying seconds between him and Aang being made to fly at each other with weapons drawn and his sword piercing Aang's chest, Hama's hold on them had been broken.

Looking toward Hama, he saw that she had been forced into a kneeling position, the freed villagers restraining her. Katara, meanwhile, was looking back at him and Aang, her face twisted into an expression of abject horror.

"Katara, I—"

Before he could say anything more, though—what, he wouldn't have known anyway—she was lurching toward them, stumbling over her own feet, her mouth moving in a near-silent repetition that Sokka could barely hear through the buzzing in his own ears. "No, no, no, Aang, no, Aang, no—"

In a flash, she was on her knees beside Aang, whose breathing had grown even shallower and more desperate in just those past few seconds. There were tears running down her face, but still she coated her hands with water and brought them glowing to the wound. What she learned only made her break out in a fresh round of choking, gasping sobs.

"Katara? Is… is he…?" In response, she only cried harder.

Sokka didn't know what to do. _Protect your family. Protect the village._ It was the mantra he'd lived by ever since their father had left. That was why he'd spent so much of his time training, so that the next time the Fire Nation came calling, he'd be able to fight them off. This time, though, there was nothing he could fight—and the assailant hadn't been a Fire Nation invader, but one of their own. This time, there was only his sister's anguished sobs and his friend, bleeding out at his feet.

By this time, Toph had returned, and she was standing among the freed prisoners, all of them watching the scene before them with various expressions of horror. _Waterbender_ , Sokka thought dully, _they know Katara's a waterbender, we have to get her out of here—_ but somehow, he could not seem to make himself move.

Then, one of Hama's former prisoners detached herself from the circle and stepped forward. Sokka stiffened, but Katara didn't even seem to notice as she knelt down on Aang's other side.

"Please, I can help…"

Off to the side, Toph stomped her foot, making the whole ground shake. "Okay, people. If you don't have a reason to be here, then get moving!" (No one made a mention of how shaky her voice sounded.)

Toph was the one who led the rest of the freed villagers off in another direction, along with Hama, now sporting a brand-new pair of rock cuffs. (It wasn't until much, much later that she would inform Sokka that no, she hadn't just _let them go_ , but sat them down and questioned them one by one and made absolutely _sure_ they had no intention of snitching on their rescuers, and what did he think she was, stupid?)

For now, though, there was only Sokka, Katara, the Fire Nation woman, and Aang bleeding on the ground. Katara and the stranger were having a rapid exchange over Aang's broken body, the other woman giving a hasty outline of what they would need to avoid doing if they didn't want him to die on the spot; Katara's hands and their glowing water never left Aang's chest.

Sokka had seen Katara's healing sessions before; he knew that she expected anyone who attended them to either contribute or get out of the way. He was no healer; other than fetching supplies, there was nothing he could do to assist her materially, and there were no supplies at hand for him to fetch. Looking at Aang and hearing his whimpers, though, he knew that this time, he couldn't just walk away.

"Hey. Hey." Slowly, he moved to kneel down behind Aang's head. "Hey." Sokka leaned over so that the two of them were face to face, reaching down to place his hands against either side of Aang's face. "Everything's going to be fine. Katara is going to fix this, okay? You'll be back to normal before you even know it. It's going to be okay."

As he talked, Katara's eyes flicked to him, but then she apparently decided he wasn't going to get in the way and returned to what she was doing with a grimace. "Aang, I—I'm so, _so_ sorry."

Aang didn't answer; it seemed to be all he could do just to keep breathing. Nevertheless, he reached up to grip Sokka's wrists, and Sokka got the feeling that the gesture was both for his own comfort and to reassure Sokka that it wasn't his fault.

It was dawn by the time that Aang's breathing evened out, and the two healers finally declared him stable enough to be moved.

* * *

They went back to Hama's inn.

None of them particularly _liked_ the idea, but… they couldn't exactly camp out while Aang was still recovering, and they had nowhere else to go. So, the four of them plus the Fire Nation healer (whose name turned out to be Akane) each picked a room, and did their best not to think too hard about where they were.

In all honesty, Sokka hadn't been paying much attention to what Katara was doing while she was actually doing it—he'd been too busy trying to reassure Aang. Later, though, he'd learned that she'd taken Hama's technique, and used it to move Aang's blood back into his body, and then _kept_ using it to keep him from bleeding out until they were able to stop the bleeding at its source. It had been absolutely brilliant.

It had also left Katara a complete and utter mess.

That first night, she'd managed to hold it together while she was busy healing Aang. Once the sun had finally risen, though, after they'd gotten Aang bandaged up and into a proper bed, she'd fallen into Sokka's arms and broken down sobbing.

She'd been absolutely inconsolable, and no amount of reassurances or hugs from Sokka (and, at one point, even _Toph_ ) had been able to quell her sobbing. Eventually, she hadn't fallen asleep so much as cried herself into exhaustion, and Sokka had carried her into an empty room and put her to bed, where Toph had snuggled in beside her ("Not. A. _Word_.") before heading back to their designated sickroom to watch over Aang.

Akane, by this point, had also retreated to one of the spare rooms, saying that Aang would make it or not, but they'd reached the point where it was out of their hands. Between her and Katara, they'd already done everything they could. The rest was now up to Aang.

So, Sokka sat with him. While he knew there wasn't much he could realistically do to help, given what Aang had pulled the _last_ time he'd been severely wounded and woken up in an unfamiliar environment, Sokka thought it would be best for _someone_ to be there with him, just in case he regained consciousness before Katara had finished resting.

And, provided the very worst happened, he could at least make sure that Aang didn't die alone.

Spirits, what would they do if Aang _didn't_ wake up?

His sword. Sweet merciful Tui and La, it had been _his sword_.

As far as Sokka knew, the sword was still back on the ground where he'd dropped it. He'd been _so proud_ of that sword, forged with his own sweat using the crafts he'd learned from Master Piandao, but right at the moment, the very thought of going back to get it made him feel queasy. If Aang died tonight of a wound inflicted by Sokka's blade, he didn't think he'd ever be able to touch it again.

"Nngh…"

"Aang!"

Slowly, Aang's eyes peeled open. He turned his head to look at Sokka.

"What… happened?"

"Well, Hama… sort of bloodbended us right at each other. Katara fought her off, but it was already too late." He really, _really_ hoped that Aang wouldn't ask him to explain _how_ exactly Katara had managed to stop her. "Would you like me to get her?"

For a moment, Aang looked about as conflicted as Sokka felt. He must have been in a lot of pain, and Sokka wouldn't blame him for wanting another healing session as soon as he could get it, but… Katara had been _really_ upset. Sokka didn't want to wake her up so soon for anything short of an immediate life-or-death emergency.

Thankfully, Aang seemed to agree with him. After a few moments, he shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut. "Let Katara rest. She's been through enough already."

Sokka nodded, relieved. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Stay with me?" Aang's voice came out in a near-whisper.

"Of course." Sokka nodded, and settled himself more comfortably in his chair to wait out the night.

When Katara came in the next morning, it was to find her brother in the bed with Aang, curled around him protectively like he'd used to do with her when they were still very young. Despite her worry and the strain of the previous day, she still couldn't help but give a small smile.


End file.
